#kerajaangagal207 – The rekindling of the Malaysian Dream

This is my last media statement using the hashtag #kerajaangagal. I had said that I will end the series when Parliament is reconvened, which is in two hours’ time.

When I started on the series on 18th April 2021 with the first statement calling on the Health Minister, Adham Baba “to stop his game of semantics and focus on checking the rise in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases and bring it down to double-digit figures or resign”, it seemed like another era.

In a short period of three months and eight day, what seemed possible appeared to be impossible now.

For instance, we were then talking about bringing down the daily new Covid-19 figures to double-digit figures, but this appeared now to be an impossible dream!

In fact, we could not make the transition from Phase One to Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan announced on June 15 because we could not meet one of the three thresholds – an average daily rate of less than 4,000 cases.

We are now over the 17,000-mark for daily new cases and nobody dare to say that we will not be exceeding the 20,000-mark soon.

Yesterday we broke the million-mark for cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and today we achieved another “milestone”, breaking the 8,000-mark for Covid-19 deaths.

We are now the world’s top seventh country in daily new Covid-19 cases, losing out only to India (which had fallen by 91% from its peak of 414.433 cases on May 6, 2021 to 38,153 cases yesterday), Indonesia, United Kingdom, Iran ,Russia and Brazil.

Latest records show that we have beaten the United States of America, which for a year had the world’s worst performing state with a cumulative total of over 35 million Covid-19 cases, in both daily new cases and new deaths.

How low has Malaysia fallen!

The past three months of hashtag #kerajaangagal have proved to be a chronicle of worsening kakistocracy in Malaysia, where the country catapulted to be one of worst-performing nations in Covid-19 pandemic.

When the first #kerajaangagal media statement was written on April 18, we had daily new cases of 2,195 and a cumulative total of 375,054 cases. Yesterday, our daily new cases recorded a new peak of 17,045 cases with a cumulative total of 1,013,438 cases. On April 18, our daily Covid-19 deaths were eight with a cumulative fatality total of 1,378. Yesterday, our daily new Covid-19 fatality was 92 dead and cumulative total of 7,994 deaths.

As a writer noted yesterday:

“The prime minister has this uncanny gift of governing by brinkmanship, making his moves on the eve of a pending challenge to his premiership. The emergency ordinance to shut down Parliament, the NRP before the Yang di-Peruan Agong and rulers met, Pemulih stimulus package before the king’s meeting with the speakers, promoting ministers before the Umno supreme council met, and coming down with diarrhoea before a cabinet meeting.

“We should be expecting a major announcement on the eve of July 26, but we hope this time it will truly be a 'Rakyat Survival Plan'.

“So, how much science and data could have gone into the NRP? Whose science says that the Covid-19 cases shall neatly and perfectly decline linearly, from about 6,000 to 4,000 to 2,000 and finally 500 and in each two-month period?

“Whose science says that the vaccination rates of 10 percent, 40 percent and 60 percent will cause a proportional decrease in infection exactly every two months? This is an insult to the science of epidemiology.

“I believe the thresholds have been carefully chosen to take the pressure off the government and give a false sense of hope to the people. According to the NRP, it seems coincidental that Parliament can only open in October, probably to table Budget 2022, and then seek dissolution of Parliament. That is why Covid-19 cases are expected to decline to 500 cases in November and December, so the general election can be held.”

What is clear is that there must be a rekindling of the Malaysian Dream to be a world-class great nation for mediocrity and kakistocracy must not be the fate for Malaysia, the confluence of four great human civilisations – Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western.

Malaysia deserves better!